But China’s northeastern Liaoning province, which relies on steel production as its growth engine, had inflated its GDP figures from 2011 to 2014, said province governor Chen Qiufa on Jan. 17 in his annual work report, according to the state newspaper People’s Daily (link in Chinese). It is the first time the Chinese government has publicly admitted to faking official statistics at any level.

Fiscal revenues were inflated by at least 20% during the period, and some other economic data were also made up, the People’s Daily said.

Liaoning was the only province that fell into recession in 2016. In the first three quarters of last year, Liaoning’s GDP contracted 2.2% from the same period in 2015, thanks largely to a severe downturn in heavy industry. [Source]

Official statistics in China have long been greeted with skepticism by economists and other observers. While Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has targeted falsified data from local governments, official numbers are still not immune from doubt. With today’s release of the 2016 GDP growth rate of 6.7%, the accuracy of the number was immediately called into question.